France/Spain late 2015.

[LancsRover]

Friday 4.9.15. 11.30am.

I went back to the road area where I had seen the Southern White Admiral yesterday but there wasn't anything flying, so I cont'd down a track which lead off the road but this proved fruitless apart from a few Clouded Yellows and Common Blues.
On my way back to the campsite, I stopped on the road and there were 2 or 3 SWA circling around and coming back roughly to the same area so I managed to obtain a few pics.
None of these were in pristine condition as was the one I saw yesterday, more brown/blue than black/blue but lovely b/f's none the less.

Russ

[LancsRover]

Friday 4.9.15 PM.
We went out for a bike ride after lunch, to a little spot where I found Walls last year, unfortunately it's at the top of a steep hill(it must be doing me good?) and sure enough we found one on the limestone dry-stone wall, also a Tree Grayling(correct me if I'm wrong please).
Not far away from the b/f's, we came across this very interesting information sign/board(see below), even on our campsite we could see thousands of stars when we walked back from the bar, I just thought it was the lager
Russ

[Padfield]

I couldn't agree more about the night sky. When I watch quiz shows on the telly it always stuns me how little even professional quizzers know about nature or the stars. Most people can't tell an oak from an ash and have no idea about the constellations (University Challenge a few episodes ago - they couldn't even recognise Gemini...). Here in the Alps I always know the phase of the moon and whether Arcturus is still visible or not. When I lived for a year in London I lost contact with these basics. It disorientated me.

Yes - tree Grayling!

Guy

[LancsRover]

Sunday 6th Sept. 2015.
Arrived yesterday at Agos-Vidalos just south of Lourdes in the Pyrenees.
Today we took a walk along the Gave de Pau, it was a lovely warm afternoon with plenty flying and landing on the wild buddleia.
Here is a list of what we saw but alas didn't get pics of all due to the height and width of the bushes
Long-tailed Blue,
Speckled Wood,
Provencal Short-tailed Blue or Short-tailed Blue(couldn't see any orange on hind uns?)
Swallowtail,
Queen of Spain(new to me),
Scarce Swallowtail,
Comma,
Cleopatra(not many seen this trip so far),
Common Blue(in cop),
Great Banded Grayling,
Peacock,
Red Admiral,
Clouded Yellow,
Small Heath,
Painted Lady,
Meadow Brown,
Green-veined White, 17 in total.
+ 3 day flying moths yet to be ID.
So quite a nice afternoon, pics below.
Russ.

[Charles Nicol]

Sunday 6th Sept. 2015.
Arrived yesterday at Agos-Vidalos just south of Lourdes in the Pyrenees.
Today we took a walk along the Gave de Pau, it was a lovely warm afternoon with plenty flying and landing on the wild buddleia.
Here is a list of what we saw but alas didn't get pics of all due to the height and width of the bushes
Long-tailed Blue,
Speckled Wood,
Provencal Short-tailed Blue or Short-tailed Blue(couldn't see any orange on hind uns?)
Swallowtail,
Queen of Spain(new to me),
Scarce Swallowtail,
Comma,
Cleopatra(not many seen this trip so far),
Common Blue(in cop),
Great Banded Grayling,
Peacock,
Red Admiral,
Clouded Yellow,
Small Heath,
Painted Lady,
Meadow Brown,
Green-veined White, 17 in total.
+ 3 day flying moths yet to be ID.
So quite a nice afternoon, pics below.
Russ.

thanks for sharing your pics. the river looks idyllic.

[LancsRover]

Thanks Charles for your comments.
Russ

Just a quick report on the campsite itself at Agos-Vidalos and a few pics. I've taken of the b/f's(& moths) seen on the garden at the entrance to the site.

There have been many others passing through but not stopping for a pic.
Russ

[LancsRover]

Monday 7.9.2015. Cool at first but plenty of warm sunshine later.24c.

We took a trip up the Acun valley to the beautiful Lac d'Estaing, not a brilliant day for b/f's but very enjoyable non the less.
Russ

[Roger Gibbons]

Hi Kev,

Your skipper is actually Tufted Marbled, hopefully a new one for you.

Regards

Roger

[LancsRover]

Thanks Roger for the Tufted Skipper ID and your right it is a new b/f for me so thanks for your help.
Russ

Tuesday 8.9.2015. Sunny & warm.
Today we visited the disused quarry up the hill side behind our campsite(as last year), it was a lot more overgrown than last year with most of the flowers dried up and gone to seed, inc. most of the buddleia bushes. It was difficult to actually physically get to the b/f's so the pics are great.
B/f's seen Clouded Yellow,
Small Heath,
Cleopatra(1 only, numerous last year)
Common Blue,
Small White,
Swallowtail,
Painted Lady,
Peacock,
Wall,
Silver-washed Frit.
Adonis Blue,
Gatekeeper(not Southern, I don't think)
Meadow Brown,
Moths Humming/bird Hawk/moth,
and a JERSEY TIGER, new to me but a very interesting day flying moth, quite large with black & white on fore wings and orange on hind wings and it was flying very strangely, like it was floating in an upright position, is this normal?

Russ

[Charles Nicol]

thanks for those pics Russ.

i was wondering why your Swallowtail does not have any red or blue bits on the hindwings ?

[LancsRover]

Hi Charles, I just think it's the camera angle(?)
Russ

[LancsRover]

Wednesday 9.9.2015. Sunny and warm 24c at Gavarnie(1570 metres above sea level).

We took another trip to GAVARNIE and a walk up to the cirque, again not as good as last year, no S/W frits on the buddleia bushes, but a few skippers and a Large Wall Brown(only one) at the cirque itself.

On our way back to the village(Gavarnie) I found this unusual Wall, (at least I think it's a Wall), on the track outside a café. It was fluttering low to the ground and when it stopped I managed an open wing shot and then I cont'd on my way back to the village, it was only later when I had put the pic on my laptop that I saw it was very unusual, all comments welcome.

Russ

[Padfield]

Hi Russ. Your first wall is a male large wall, Lasiommata maera.

Guy

[LancsRover]

Hi Guy, thanks for your quick response. I looked in my book and the male, didn't match(see my book pics below) is there a lot of variants and do I need a new book for Xmas?
The male Large Wall was about the size of a normal Wall, are they smaller than the female Large Wall?

Russ

[Charles Nicol]

i can confirm your ID of crepe and nutella. we can rule out galettes as they are typically found north of the Massif Central at this time of year.

nuteller.JPG (42.66 KiB) Viewed 652 times

[Chris Jackson]

Hi Russ,
Concerning Large Walls, they seem to me to keep their wings open 10 times longer than would a regular Wall Brown !!
How's that for approximate science ?

Love the photos of Gavarnie - must go there sometime.
I am keeping tabs on your adventures, but I'm sorry I havn't had time to comment - I'm always looking in though.
Chris

[Padfield]

Maera is very variable, being particularly bright in the south and dark in the north. It nearly always lacks the basal cell bar in the forewing (so wall has three bars in the cell, large wall just two).

That's a good book, Russ, so you don't need another. But in my opinion you can't have too many butterfly books. If you don't own Tolman (the Collins Butterfly Guide) I should certainly consider pointing Santa in the direction of Amazon.

Guy

[LancsRover]

Hi Charles, thanks for the ID on the crepe, very amusing as usual
Russ


Hi Chris, thanks for your comments, I can see you have been out and about yourself, which is what it's all about. I hope you haven't had the t/storms and heavy rain we have just had in north-east Spain? (see our campsite on Tuesday 29.9.15. pics taken from inside my "van", we have been cleaning up all morning today,1.10.15.)

Russ

[David M]

Russ, you must have had what we are routinely due.

It's been unseasonably glorious here for at least a week. I think Scotland has broken records today for October temperatures. I'm sure I saw 23c on the early evening bulletin.

[LancsRover]

Thanks again Guy for your ID and comments, I will drop a few hints to the family for Xmas.
Russ

Thursday 10.9.15. Overcast, with a few drops of rain towards the end of the afternoon.
A short walk down to the river Pau again.
B/f's seen;
Green veined White,
Small White,
Wall,
Small Copper,
Clouded Yellow,
Common Blue,
Small Heath,
Painted Lady 6+, some in excellent condition, some looking the worst for ware.
Red Admiral,
Swallowtail,
Peacock,
Meadow Brown,
Speckled Wood, this one with yellow and orange markings.
Moths seen;
H/Bird Hawk moth and a Latticed Heath.
Also a pale blue and purple cat. any takers???
Russ